I have returned home from my sorjourn to Colorado Springs and have looked through my books for mentions of "heavy" infantry and have found none. I have taken into consideration both the employment and the equipping of a regiment to qualify them as "heavy." Don't get the term "heavy column" confused with "heavy" infantry. You will see the term pop up in reports and various other places. A "heavy column" is nothing more than a column formation weighted to achieve a specific task. The column was used when speed was necessary, terrain dictated, and if a narrow penetration needed to be achieved.

Below are the references I have looked through.

Coco, Gregory A. The Civil War Infantryman: In camp, on the march, and in battle. Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1996.

Griffith, Paddy. Battle Tactics of the Civil War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

McWhiney, Grady and Perry D. Jamieson. Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1982.

Nosworthy, Brent. The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. This last book is great. It has diagrams on pages 262-263 showing the evolution of methods of attack from 1689-1763 and on various column formations according to function, width, and density.

I would say, as previously discussed, that "heavy" infantry had fallen out of doctrinal use by the time of the Mexican War. However, Governor Joseph E. Brown was comfortable with the use of anachronistic terms and weapons. May we never forget the infamous "Joe Brown Pikes."

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration.
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment